D 570 
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D 570 
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.C8 W5 
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A SUGGESTED PROGRAM 



FOR THE 



Executive State Council of Defense 



OF 



West Virginia 



Based upon a study by Hon. Clarence L. Stonaker, of the 
Institutions and Resources of the State 



BY 
HASTINGS H. HART, LL. D, 

Of the Russell Sage Foundation 



CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA 
August, 1917 



PREFATORY NOTE 

-CzWs 

This pamphlet containing a suggested program for the Executive 
State Council of Defense in the mobilization of the resources of the 
State to meet conditions growing out of the prosecution of the war 
with Germany, is the work of Hastings H. Hart, LL. D., Director of 
the Department of Child Helping, Eussell Sage Foundation, New 
York City. The suggested program is based upon a study of condi- 
tions in West Virginia by Dr. Hart and Hon. Clarence L. Stonaker 
of New Jersey. The author has devoted considerable space to a dis- 
cussion of the problem of social service and advocates the develop- 
ment of social work among the State institutions, suggesting in- 
creased facilities for the care of returning soldiers and their de- 
pendents. 

Because of the necessity existing in West A^irginia for the enlarge- 
ment of social service and welfare work, not only for the present 
responsibilities of caring for those who have offered their lives on 
the battle line and the dependents who remain at home but as an in- 
centive for permanent material progress in this field of service the 
Executive State Counsel of Defense has directed the. report of Dr. 
Hart to be printed. 

Jesse V. Sullivan,, 
Secretary Advisory State Council of Defense. 



STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA. 



Executive State Council of Defense. 

President, Hon. John J. Cornwell, Governor. 

Secretary, Hon. Houston G. Young, Secretary of State. 

Hon. John S. Darst, Auditor. 

Hon. M. P. Shawkey, State Supt. of Schools. 

Hon. E/T. England, Attorney General. 

Hon. W. S. Johnson, Treasurer. 

Hon. Jas. H. Stewart, Commissioner of Agriculture. 



0. of D, 
SEP 11 1917 






*\. 



A SUGGESTED PROGRAM 

for the 

EXECUTIVE STATE COUNCIL OF DEFENSE OF 

WEST VIRGINIA. 



New York, July 27, 1917. 
To the Executive State Council of Defense of West Virginia. 
Gextlemen : 

In accordance with your request at our conference of June 29 
we have undertaken a study of available resources, agencies, and 
institutions of the State of West Virginia which may be made 
effective in the efforts <5f the Council of Defense to mobilize the State 
in order to meet the demands which are made upon West Virginia 
in view of the entrance of this Nation upon the Great War. 

We called to our assistance in the prosecution of this study Hon. 
Clarence L. Stonaker, Secretary of the New Jersey States Charities 
Aid and Prison Association and formerly Secretary of the Colorado 
State Board of Charities and Corrections. Mr. Stonaker being an 
experienced newspaper man, is skilful in finding out and stating 
information as to social work and institutions. We requested Mr. 
Stonaker to study the social institutions and agencies of this State. 
In this undertaking he had the active co-operation of Hon. J. S. Lakin 
of the State Board of Control^ who accompanied him in visiting all 
of the most important institutions in the State, giving him the benefit 
of his own complete and intimate knowledge of them. 

Mr. Stonaker has made a detailed report of his observations which 
is herewith submitted. The principal points of that report are out- 
lined in this document. It will be noted that he has made his 
study with constant reference to the possible relations of the social 
agencies and institutions to the work of the Council of Defense. 

We have undertaken to outline, tentatively, a possible program 
for the activities of the Council. We wish to have it distinctly under- 
stood, however, that this is not intended to be a hard and fast pro- 
gram, to be executed literally or without change. It is "suggested," 
not prescribed, and it is "tentative," not fixed. It is intended only 
as a working basis for plans to be developed by the wisdom and 



Suggested Program for the 



experience of the Council, and it must of necessity be subject to 
change according to the exigencies and the evolution of the work 
of the Nation in prosecuting the war. 

THE SUGGESTED PROGRAM. 

I. An Educational Program for the Promotion of Patriotism. 

We believe that the first duty of the Council of Defense is to 
promote patriotic feeling and consecration in the hearts of the people 
of the State, especially those adopted citizens who have come to 
West Virginia to seek larger opportunity and greater freedom, but 
who need instruction in the principles of democracy and in the ex- 
ercise of their rights, privileges, and duties as citizens of the State 
and, of the Nation. 

At our conference of June 29 I submitted an outline of "Propa- 
ganda for Education in Patriotism" believing that the Council would 
probably wish to undertake immediately the development of such 
propaganda. Since that time I have submitted the outline to the 
secretary of the Committee on Education in Patriotism of the Na- 
tional Security League and also to President H. 1ST. McCracken of 
Vassar College, chairman of the same committee. Both of these gen- 
tlemen approved of it. President McCracken says: "The plan for 
patriotic meetings seems excellent and I am glad to have it for my 
file/' 

The following is the proposed plan: 

Propaganda for Education in Patriotism. 
A. Patriotic Meetings. 

Undertake a propaganda to promote public meetings in the inter- 
est of patriotism in all parts of the state. 

Appoint a strong committee, including a leading member of 
each of the political parties, a clergyman^ a university professor, and 
a Chautauqua promoter. 

Let this committee secure the co-operation of the Bureau of Patriot- 
ism through Education of the National Security League, the Fed- 
eral Council of the Churches of Christ in America, the Federation 
of Women's Clubs, and the chairman of the" state party committees, 
the newspapers, and other organizations.* 

Organize teams, consisting of three men and one woman, to visit 

♦Note.— -Suggestive handbooks and pamphlets can be obtained from the first 
two of these organizations. 



Executive State Council oe Defense 



the more important cities and hold patriotic meetings; such teams 
should include at least one speaker to be furnished by the National 
Committee on Education in Patriotism. Organize also county teams 
to visit the smaller communities. 

Subjects for Discussion. 

Let these meetings emphasize: 

1. Loyalty to our Government and our Flag. 

2. The fact that the United States has been forced into this war 
against its will, "to make the world safe for democracy/' to protect 
the innocent and to defend the weak. 

3. The duty of every citizen to enlist for the war, and to find 
a way to serve his country, whether in the field, in civil service, in 
the hospital, or in the more faithful performance of the tasks of pre 
duction, education, social service,, or other duties which he may find 
at home. 

4. The duty of protecting the health, education and morals of our 
children, thus avoiding the mistake of sacrificing the future strength 
of the Nation for a small immediate advantage. 

5. The importance of conserving our national resources, material 
and human, with the most rigid economy in order to win the fight 
for democracy. 

B. Enlistment of the Clergy. 

1. Ask the clergymen of the state to join with the committee 
of the State Council of Defense in an effort to induce every clergy- 
man, of whatever denomination, to preach a patriotic sermon at least 
once a month, inculcating the principles above mentioned and the re- 
ligious foundation of patriotism. 

2. Urge the clergy to stimulate patriotism by the singing of 
"America" or other patriotic hymns at every public service, by the 
display of the American flag, and where practicable, the flag of one 
or more of the allies, and by inspiring them to take an active share 
in all forms of endeavor tending to promote social well-being. 

II. Production of War Material. 

The products of West Virginia: Coal, steel in raw and manufac- 
tured forms, farm products, and live stock, are all of the utmost 
importance at the present time. Whatever can be done to increase 



Suggested Program for the 



these products in a legitimate way is a great contribution to the 
Nation. 

We understand that the Executive Council of Defense has already 
taken up this matter systematically and we do not consider it nec- 
essary to discuss it. We wish, however to call attention to the fact 
that some of the foreign countries which are engaged" in the war 
have made the mistake of laying so heavy a burden upon their peo- 
ple as actually to diminish their productive powers. In the long 
run a larger and better product will be secured from 54 hours' work 
per week under favorable conditions, with good food and with oppor- 
tunities for wholesome recreation than from 70 hours' work performed 
by men who are kept constantly at the limit of physical endurance. 
England and France have discovered that women operatives in muni- 
tion works are very much more efficient on an eight hour day than 
on a 10 hour day and that the same principle applies to boys between 
the ages of 14 and 16; while the labor of boys under 14, working long 
hours, is of little value and, in some kinds of work, is positively 
unprofitable. On page 11 of Mr. Stonaker's report he says; "In 
mines, the hazard is so great that all the large operators and most 
of the small ones decline to employ minors of any age." This state- 
ment not only reflects credit upon the humanity of the operators but 
it also emphasizes a practical fact with reference to the economy of 
production. 

III. Economy and Conservation of Food Supplies and Other 

Resources. 

The Council of Defense must urge by precept and example rigid 
economy in the use of foodstuffs and other material resources in order 
to maintain the armies in the field and the people at home and also 
to contribute food for the Allies, but with this economy they must 
inculcate a large generosity in, gifts for war relief at home and 
abroad and in subscriptions to national loans and other war funds. 
They must stimulate also such a spirit of unstinted self denial and 
conservation as animates our heroic Allies. 

IV. The Duty of the State Toward the Soldier. 

As soon as the soldier enlists for the war he enters the service of 
the general government and ceases to be a member of the state troops. 
In every state, however, it is recognized that the National Govern- 
ment can not do all that should be done for the soldier and that 
the state must stand ready to do its part. 



Executive State Council oe Defense 



The Council of Defense can contribute to the comfort and welfare 
of the soldiers while in training camps and after they are sent 
abroad. 'This can be done by promoting kindness, good will, and 
correspondence between the soldiers and the people whom they have 
left behind them. The sending of gifts and letters often brings cheer 
to the young soldier who is prone to suffer from homesickness. But 
care should be exercised, in consultation with a judicious com- 
mittee of women, to avoid the abuses which sometimes arise in con- 
nection with efforts of this sort. The promiscuous association of 
young girls with soldiers without the presence of suitable chaperones 
is a very dangerous thing. The undirected correspondence of young 
girls with soldiers with whom their families are not acquainted may 
be perfectly innocent in intention but it is liable to produce evil 
results and should be carefully guarded. 

The Returned Soldier. 

As Mr. Stonaker has very clearly pointed out, many of the soldiers 
who return from the front will be in need of the kindly offices of 
the State. Some will be worn out and will need opportunity to re- 
cuperate. Some will be sick and will need hospital and convalescent 
care. Some will come back wounded and crippled and will need 
surgical treatment with a long, period of convalescence. These men, 
together with those who will have lost their sight, will need special 
training in order that they may be able to work for their own 
support instead of becoming hopeless paupers. Others will come back 
afflicted with tuberculosis and will need sanitarium care in order 
to cure them if possible^ and in order to protect their neighbors 
from the clangers of the white plague. 

Some men will return infected with social diseases which will 
make them unfit to associate with other people. Many will come 
back afflicted with mental disturbances which will often be curable by 
prompt and efficient treatment, but the success of that treatment will 
depend upon having first class psychopathic hospitals ready for their 
treatment. 

From Mr. Stonaker's study it appears that West Virginia is espe- 
cially favored in having three state surgical hospitals and five sub- 
sidized hospitals maintained in part at state expense. We believe 
that it will be possible to use these hospitals for the benefit of return- 
ing soldiers, increasing their facilities by the use of tents or by build- 
ing temporary shacks." It must be borne in mind, however, that 



Suggested Progkam foe the 



these hospitals are already taxed to the limit of their capacity and 
we would suggest that there will be a necessity for an immediate in- 
crease of hospital facilities, either by enlarging the existing hospitals 
or by establishing new ones. 

It will be necessary to provide these additional facilities at once in 
order to avoid the sufferings and the public damage which have oc- 
curred in Europe because they failed to begin in time. New York 
,and other states have already undertaken such preparation and the 
Council of Defense cannot begin too promptly. But in whatever 
provision is undertaken for the needs of the returned soldier there 
should be constantly borne in mind the future needs of the State. 
It will probably be necessary for the Council of Defense to apply a 
portion of the fund at its disposal toward making these preparations. 
It will be a satisfaction both to the Council and to the people to 
realize that this portion of the funds can be so used as to serve both 
the immediate needs of the soldier and the future needs of the people. 

A Convalescent Home for Cripples. 

One of the earliest needs will be a convalescent home for wounded 
and crippled soldiers. The convalescence of a cripple is a much more 
tedious process than that of ordinary sickness. It frequently extends 
over a period of months and even years. Experience in England, 
France, and Canada has shown the absolute necessity for a vocational 
department in such a convalescent home in order that the crippled 
soldier may learn some trade or occupation which will enable him to 
earn a living for himself. Most surprising and gratifying results 
have been reached along these lines in those countries. It is a pitiful 
and disgraceful sight to see a man with one arm or one leg beg- 
ging by the wayside when he might have been made a useful and 
productive citizen. 

An experimental school for the training of crippled adults has just 
been established in New York City under the direction of Dr. Edward 
T. Devine, one of the most competent men in the country. A fund 
of $50,000 has been provided for its development. It will follow 
the lines which have been successfully pursued in England, France 
and Canada. It is hoped that this school will become a model for 
similar schools in other parts of the United States. 

It is essential that the convalescent home for cripples should be 
located close by one of the largest cities of the state in order to be 
within easy reach of the best orthopedic surgeons. The services of 



Executive State Council of Defense 



such surgeons are indispensable in order to secure complete conva- 
lescence and in order to get the benefit of their advice with reference 
to the future occupation of the crippled men. 

This convalescent home should be of a permanent character for 
the reason that exactly such a home will be needed for the crippled 
children of the State and for adult cripples after they have received 
surgical treatment in the hospitals. All specialists agree that such 
convalescent homes are an essential feature of orthopedic treatment. 

A committee of the Council of Defense should visit the State Hos- 
pital School at Canton, Massachusetts, the New England Peabody 
Home for Crippled Children at Hyde Park, Massachusetts, the Coun- 
try Branch of the New York Orthopaedic Hospital at White Plains, 
the Children's Hospital School, and the Kernan Hospital and In- 
dustrial School at Baltimore, and the Industrial Home for Crippled 
Children at Pittsburg. These are the typical institutions of their 
class in the United States but it will be possible for West Virginia to 
adopt a somewhat simpler and less expensive plan of construction 
than either of them, without sacrificing the essential features of such 
a convalescent home. 

V. A Proposed State General Hospital. 

One of the most important suggestions made by Mr. Stonaker in 

his report is that the State Hospital at Huntington shall become a 

general receiving and distributing hospital for all kinds of cases 

from all parts of the State, and shall cease to be used for the custodial 

'care of feeble-minded, epileptics, and other classes of patients. 

Mr. Stonaker proposes that the Huntington Hospital shall estab- 
lish psychological and medical clinics for the study of all forms of 
mental and physical diseases in order to secure for each patient 
exactly the treatment which is called for by his condition. He pro- 
poses that the hospital shall have a staff of experienced medical offi- 
cers representing all of the important specialties of medical science 
and that it shall be prepared to furnish the most efficient and prompt 
treatment for all forms of surgery and for acute mental or physical 
diseases. 

Under his recommendation it would include a psychopathic hospital 
equipped with all of the modern methods for treating insanity and 
all new cases from all parts of the State would receive the best pos- 
sible treatment in the early stages of the disease. As a result many 
of these cases would never reach the insane hospitals of the State. 
Children of doubtful mentality would receive expert examination 



10 Suggested Program for the 

in order to ascertain whether they are really feeble-minded or epileptic 
or whether their mental condition was due to remediable causes. In 
the former case they would be speedily transferred to a school or 
colony for children of their class; in the latter case they would be 
subjected to such treatment and training as might be necessary to 
restore them to a normal condition. 

Crippled and deformed children would receive surgical treatment 
at Huntington after which they would be transferred to the proposed 
"State Hospital School" for convalescence, education, and vocational 
training. 

Inebriates, drug addicts, and. victims of venereal diseases would re- 
ceive skilled treatment during the acute stage of their disease and 
would then be transferred to working colonies until they become lit 

for restoration to citizenship. 
* 
The Huntington Hospital would thus become a great clearing 

house for afflicted people from all parts of the State and would make 
it possible greatly to increase the efficiency of the hospitals for the 
sick and the insane, the institutions for children, the state reforma- 
tories, and the philanthropic agencies of the State. 

If Mr. Stonaker's recommendation should be adopted the Hunt- 
ington Hospital would become the rendevous to which all returned 
soldiers, found to be diseased or crippled or vitally exhausted, would 
be gathered for immediate treatment and for subsequent distribution 
either to their homes or to some institution for permanent care. We 
commend this proposition to the earnest consideration of the Execu- 
tive Council of Defense. 

VI. The Care of Soldiers' Families. 

A sacred obligation rests upon the Council of Defense and the 
people of West Virginia toward the dependent families of the men 
who are taking their lives in their hands and crossing the ocean to 
foreign shores for the common defense. This obligation appeals to 
every right minded citizen and there will be no question as to the 
readiness of the people of the State to meet it. It is of vital im- 
portance, however, that this duty shall be discharged with such wis- 
dom and fidelity as to secure both the interests and happiness of 
those mothers and children who may need assistance. 

It is of fundamental importance that this shall be recognized as, 
a family problem. The interests of the mother and the child are not 
separate and ought not to be separated except in those comparatively 



Executive State Council of Defense 11 

few cases where the mother is morally or mentally unfit to care for 
her own child. 

After the Civil War the States of Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Kansas established 
"Soldiers' Orphans' Homes" for the care of dependent children of 
soldiers. Most of the children admitted to these homes had living 
mothers. It was believed that the State could do better for the 
children than could be done by their mothers in view of their poverty 
or their inefficiency. 

In practice the orphans' home plan did not prove entirely satisfac- 
tory. It was very expensive, involving the maintenance of children 
at a liberal cost for many years. It was an unnatural plan of living. 
However well-conducted the homes might be the children were nev- 
ertheless deprived of the privileges and opportunities of natural family 
home life. It was a cruel plan. The State said to the widowed mother : 
"Poor woman ! You have lost your husband who has sacrificed his 
life for his country. We are deeply sorry for you and in order to 
testify our gratitude to him and our sympathy for you we will take 
your children away and bring them up for you and thus will enable 
you to get a living for yourself." Thus the mother, bereft of her 
husband was bereft also of her children. 

Happily, in this generation we have found a better way. The 
State of West Virginia has passed a law for mothers' pensions under 
which it will be possible for the State to supplement the provision 
which may be made by the National Government so that it will 
be unnecessary for any good and competent mother to be separated 
from her children; and it will also be unnecessary for mothers to 
wear themselves out by excessive labor or to leave their children to 
roam the streets while they work in the factory or in domestic ser- 
vice in order to support their children. 

The mothers' pension law of West Virginia will need to be care- 
fuly revised in the light of experience of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
and Massachusetts. The Council of Defense will need to stand firmly 
against a popular sentiment which is opposed to any supervision 
of mothers' pensions on the ground that this allowance is a matter 
of right and that the mother is entitled to take the money and use 
it as she will. The mothers' pension is not an individual and per- 
sonal right, it is a public fund provided to conserve the children who 
are not only natural wards of the mother but are also wards of the 
great Mother State. When the State j>rovides money by taxation for 
this purpose it is not only the privilege, but the duty of the State to 



12 Suggested Program eor the 

follow that money and see that it is applied to the purpose for which 
it was designed. 

The State must ascertain through competent and sympathetic 
agents whether the mother possesses the character, the intelligence, 
and the necessary physical strength and whether she is living in con- 
ditions which will enable her to bring up her children properly. If 
she is found lacking in any of these particulars the agents of the 
State must endeavor so to improve the conditions of the family as 
to enable her to care properly for her children and if, after faithful 
efforts, this can not be accomplished, then provision must be made 
for the children in some other way. It would be inexcusable for the 
State to deliberately supply an unfit mother with funds in order to 
enable her to keep her children in a home of vice or restraint; but 
on the other hand the supervision must be kindly, sympathetic, and 
helpful. It will be best exercised by trained, intelligent women. 

The Care of Soldiers' Orphans. 

Some children of soldiers will be found who have lost both father 
and mother and some whose parents are entirely unable or unfit to 
care for them. In some cases the disabilities of the parents .will be 
temporary and they will be able to resume the care of their children 
later. It will be necessary to make provision for such children, tem- 
porary or permanent, as the case may be. This provision may be 
made either by committing them to an orphanage, either one already 
existing or in a "soldiers' orphans' home" or by placing them out 
in a family home through an approved agency. 

We have no hesitation in urging the adoption of the plan of plao- 
ing-out or boarding-out in family homes in preference to commit- 
ment to orphanages. But the placing-out plan ought never to be tol- 
erated unless the agency in charge of the work is thoroughly reliable, 
andd it is unquestionably true that West Virginia has not at the 
present time such an agency. 

Mr. Stonaker has described the two placing-out agencies of West 
Virginia. The writer has been personally familiar with these two 
agencies for many years and is also familiar with all of the important 
child placing agencies in the United States. Theoretically, the plac- 
ing-out organization of your State is ideal. You have a State agency 
known as the West Virginia Humane Society which is supported and 
administered by the State. This agency has a receiving home known 
as the Elkins Children's Home for the temporary care of white chil- 
dren and there is a state home near Huntington, for colored children 



Executive State Council of Defense 13 

awaiting placement. You have also a voluntary society known as the 
West Virginia Children's Home Society which is privately admin- 
istered without any control or supervision by the State. This society 
also has a receiving home for the temporary care of children. 

The West Virginia Humane Society has never established the 
standards which are now required by every reputable child-placing 
agency. It has lacked efficient leadership; it has never had com- 
petent field agents; its receiving home has been repeatedly the ob- 
ject of criticism. We understand that the board of trustees is now 
looking for a competent superintendent and proposes to establish 
standards similar to those maintained by the state agencies of Massa- 
chusetts, New Jersey, Ohio and Indiana. Under the new law the 
society will be under the direction of the State Board of Control and 
there is every reason to anticipate that it will be put upon a modern 
basis. 

The West Virginia Children's Home Society had an income last 
year of $9,600, of which about $6,000 were expended in maintaining 
the Davis Shelter in Charleston, which is the receiving home of the 
society, leaving only $3,600 for the field work of the society. 

The superintendent of the society is about 75 years old. He has 
only one assistant in the field. These two men raise all of the funds 
of the society, receive all new children (175 last year) place children 
in family homes, and are responsible for the supervision of 500 wards 
of the society, scattered through the State. It is absolutely impossible 
for these two men to attend to the interests of the children in any 
proper way. All of the time of the superintendent should be given 
to the executive work of the society and the raising of money. The 
best placing-out societies now consider that they need a field agent 
for every 50 children in care together with an office staff of record 
clerks and stenographers. One agent for every 75 children may be 
regarded as a minimum. On this basis the society should have at 
least seven field agents instead of one for the care of its 500 wards, 
with at least one record clerk and two stenographers to keep the 
records and carry on the correspondence of the society. This would 
require a budget for field work of $12,000 instead of the present 
budget of $3,600. 

The absurdity of the present conditions is manifest. The society 
has in its Shelter at Charleston 25 children and it employs for their 
care six women (not too many). It has under its care in family 
homes throughout the State, 500 children, needing careful and faith- 



14 Suggested Program for the 

ful supervision and for this duty it employs a minor fraction of the 
time of two men. 

We believe strongly in the maintenance of a private child-placing 
society, and the Children's Home Society's general plan of organiza- 
tion is a good one, but we have no hesitation in saying that unless 
the society can be reorganized with a sufficient staff of trained work- 
ers, and unless a sufficient budget can be secured to support it, it 
should go out of business. The Kentucky Children's Home 
Society has a budget of about $50,000 per year ; the Florida Children's 
Home Society has a budget of about $35,000 per }^ear; the West 
Virginia Children's Home Society has a budget of about $10,000 per 
year. The amount expended by these three societies for each 100,000 
people in the state is: for Florida $3,800; for Kentucky $2,100; 
for West Virginia $700. The income of the two West Virginia 
societies is about $1,400 for each 100,000 people. The income of the 
West Virginia Children's Home Society should be at least doubled 
immediately. A competent superintendent should be secured, and a 
staff of competent field agents should be employed. The Board of 
Directors should give careful study to their job and should go to work 
systematically to enlist the good will and co-operation of the people 
of the state. 

The work of the State Humane Society should be so organized as 
to meet the needs of Roman Catholic and Jewish children by insur- 
ing their placement with people of like religious faith with their 
parents. If the number of Roman Catholic children is large enough 
the St. Vincent de Paul Society should be encouraged to organize 
a plaeing-out agency of their own similar to the agencies already or- 
ganized in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. 

Delinquent Children. 

It is generally agreed that the Great War has resulted in a lament- 
able increase in delinquency among the children of European coun- 
tries. This increase has been due in part to the general demoraliza- 
tion incident to this extraordinary conflict. It is due in part to 
the breaking up of families, the absence and death of the father, and 
the economic pressure upon home life. It is due in part to the en- 
listment of school teachers as soldiers or nurses or munition workers, 
and to the use of school property for hospitals or other military pur- 
poses. It is due in part to the employment of children as munition 
workers or in other occupations without proper supervision and with- 
out proper regard for the interests of childhood. It is due in part 



Executive State Council op Defense 15 

to the physical deterioration due to insufficient food and lack of per- 
sonal and medical care. 

Happily public sentiment in the United States from the President 
down, is demanding that there shall be no sacrifice of the interests 
of children for the prosecution of the war; that the schools shall be 
maintained in full efficiency; that children shall be sufficiently fed 
and cared for; that the moral standards of the community shall be 
steadfastly maintained, and that the exploitation of children in child 
labor, and the kind, arduousness, and hours of work shall be rigidly 
controlled. These ideas should be earnestly promoted by the Council 
of Defense; and no public needs should be allowed to outweigh them. 

The juvenile court and probation system which exists in Charles- 
ton and Wheeling should be extended to the rural counties, the State 
School for Boys at Pruntytown should be turned into a reformatory 
for young men, and a new state school should be built from the ground 
up with modern equipment. The State Council of Defense should 
encourage the extension of such movements as the Boy Scouts and 
the County Young Men's Christian Associations with public play- 
grounds and other wholesome forms of recreation throughout the 
State. 

The conservation of juvenile morals is a matter of the utmost im- 
portance because the boys of the State must fill the places which will 
be vacated by the men who lost their lives or their productive energy 
at the front. The democracy, the community life, and the home life 
of the nation is to depend upon them. 

VII. Utilization of Prison Labor. 

With the tremendous demand for war supplies in addition to the 
ordinary demand for domestic uses ; with the cessation of immigra- 
tion which for 150 years has poured a steady stream of fresh labor- 
ers into the United States; and with the immediate diversion of a 
million men, and perhaps four or five millions, to the trade of war, 
we are confronted with a scarcity of labor which compels us to utilize 
every available worker to the limit of his reasonable capacity. 

It has been a matter of pride to the public officials of the State of 
West Virginia that the convicts in your penitentiary have actually 
been able to earn the entire cost of their own maintenance, working 
under the contract system at from 65 to 70 cents per day, with an 
actual surplus for the state treasury of 18 cents per man. It appears 
also that the prisoners who are employed on the contract have earned 



16 Suggested Program eor the 

by over-time work about $48,000, or $40 yearly per man, which has 
gone to themselves for their families. 

But able bodied men, working under skilled direction and thorough 
system, without loss of time from drink, strikes, or voluntary holi- 
days, ought to earn more than their board and clothes. In the present 
state of the labor market it is possible for prisoners, under proper 
circumstances, to earn two dollars per day. In Vermont, prisoners 
from the common jail are earning two dollars per day on the adja- 
cent farms. In Windham county, Connecticut, prisoners are actually 
earning $2.50 per day at common labor, and at Wilmington, Dela- 
ware, short term prisoners are earning $1.20 per day. 

Organized labor has fought against prison labor, especially against 
the contract system, not because the prisoners are productively em- 
ployed but because their labor is sold for less than it is worth and 
becomes a sources of excessive profit to the contractor, thus enabling 
him to compete unjustly with his competitors and to force down the 
price of free labor. 

It is generally agreed that in view of the food requirements of the 
United States and her allies prisoners should be employed, as far 
as possible in food production. The amount of land cultivated by 
prisoners has probably increased fifty percent during the past year. 
It now amounts to hundreds of thousands of acres. The state pris- 
oners of Mississippi are working 27,000 acres and the state is now 
purchasing 5,000 acres more. 

Mr. Stonaker, in his report, page five, has indicated how the state 
may get full value for its prison labor and the prisoners may earn 
for the state from $1.20 to $2.00 per day instead of 70 cents: namely 
by employing them, upon the public highways. 

The plan of employing prisoners in road building is now new. It 
was first used in this country in the southern states and has long been 
followed there. In recent years it has been introduced in the northern 
states with great success. 

There is a radical difference, however, between the old method and 
the new method of employing prisoners in road building. Warden 
Thomas J. Tynan of the Colorado State Penitentiary wrote recently 
as follows: "We are now doing work to the value of $2.50 per day 
by prisoners on the highway at a cost to tjie tax-payers of the State 
not to exceed 40 cents per day. The State could well afford to pay a 
little wage besides the good time allowance." 

The difference between the old system and the new system lies 
chiefly in the manner of dealing with the prisoners. Under the new 



Executive State Council of Defense 17 

plan ari appeal is made to the prisoner's honor and good will. After 
being tested within the walls, he is permitted to join a company of 
workers outside the wall on his promise of good work and good be- 
havior and on his promise not to run away. The prisoners work with- 
out chains and the guards in many cases carry no firearms. Testimony 
comes from Ohio, from Oregon, from Colorado, from Wisconsin, from 
Connecticut, and from Canada that prisoners — even low-grade prison- 
ers and negroes — respond surprisingly to this treatment; that escapes 
are few and that there is a great improvement in the industry and effi- 
ciency of the prisoners. 

The incentive to the prisoners to make good is partly an increased 
allowance for good time; partly, in some states, a small cash wage; 
partly the desire of the prisoners for the freer life outside the walls, 
and partly a response to the confidence , shown in them by their 
officers. 

Success in employing prisoners on the roads by modern methods 
depends first upon finding a road manager who is interested in his 
men and believes in the possibility of exciting their interest and loy- 
alty for the work. It depends second upon creating such living and 
working conditions as will keep the men fit for a good day's work. 
That means, good food, goad cooking, comfortable sleeping quarters, 
opportunity for proper recreation, good laundry work and bathing 
facilities, and above all the treatment of the prisoners by their officers 
as reasonable human beings. 

The plan of roadside camps, portable cages, chain gangs, ignorant 
and cruel guards armed with shot guns and discretionary power, wils 
not secure cheerful and efficient work. 

We would suggest that the Council of Defense take this matter up 
with the Board of Control and if possible arrange for an experiment 
along this line. Let the Board of Control rent a farm in a neigh- 
borhood where there is highway work of importance at different places 
within six or eight miles. 

Establish on this farm a good camp, well equipped with shacks, 
good beds, a good kitchen, shower baths, a good small hospital, and 
a competent physician. 

Let the State appropriate for road construction an amount which 
will equal for each man the amount now paid by the contractor, 70 
cents per day. Let this money be expended in districts where the 
county authorities are willing to appropriate an additional sum of 
70 cents per day to each man, making a total of $1.40 per day. 
Allow to each prisoner, including cooks, house-cleaners, hospital nurses, 



18 Suggested Program eor the 

and other employees about the camp, wages at the rate of $1'.40 per 
day. Charge such prisoner at the rate of TO cents per day for the 
cost of his keep, including salaries and wages of employees. Allow 
the prisoner to expend from his wages a small sum (perhaps $2 or 
$3 monthly) for combs, tooth brushes, handkerchiefs, neckties, 
tobacco, candy, etc. to be purchased from the prison stores at cost. 

If the State can not try this experiment without new legislation 
it is possible that some county may be induced to test it out. Unless 
your experience is different from that of other States we believe that 
you will be surprised at the good results obtainable under this plan. 

The prisoners should spend every night at the camp, either walking 
to and from their work, if the distance is not too great or being 
carried back and forth in automobile trucks. Provision should be 
made for a night school, one hour each evening, and for services to 
be conducted by a chaplain possessed both of religion and of practical 
common sense. 

Under this plan the State would get back the whole of its appro- 
priation of 70 cents a da}'', the county would get its roads built a? 
half price and the prisoner and his family would get the 70 cents per 
day for their maintenance. In the meantime the nation at large would 
profit by the improved transportation facilities which must of neces- 
sity increase the productiveness of the State. 

County Jail Prisoners. 

In most States of the Union county jail prisoners are kept in idle- 
ness. Either they do not work at all or their work is of practically 
no value. We understand that a considerable number of the county 
jail prisoners in West Virginia are employed upon the roads. In 
that case what has already been said will apply and the efficiency of 
such road labor can be increased in the manner already suggested. 

In those counties where the jail prisoners are not employed, we 
would suggest that the adoption of the Vermont plan under which 
the jailer finds employment for individual prisoners with a near-by 
farmer who paj^s for their labor at the ordinary rate for free labor. 
The prisoner sleeps at the jail and has his breakfast and supper 
there — two good hearty meals. He goes out in the morning, carrying 
a dinner bucket and returns at night. If the distance is too great 
the farmer sends for him by team or automobile. If the prisoner 
fails to make good or tries to run away the farmer notifies the sheriff 
promptly who sends a deputy sheriff after him. Tbe reports from 



Executive State Council of Defense 19 

Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware, and Wisconsin where this plan pre- 
vails show very few escapes. No guard is necessary as the farmer 
looks after the prisoners and thus the overhead charges are done 
away with. 

In some States the councils of defense are inducing jail prisoners, 
upon their discharge, to enlist in the army or to engage in other 
public service. Under the rules adopted by the Government, pris- 
oners who have been sentenced for felonies can not enlist in the 
army. 

VIII. The Defectives. 

It is clear from Mr. Stonaker's report that the Council of Defense 
will need to give attention to the question of provision for defectives. 
If our suggestion with reference to the use of the hospital at Hunting- 
ton as a general state hospital is followed, it will be necessary to 
increase the accommodations for the insane in order to meet the 
natural demand of a growing state. Mr. Stonaker is undoubtedly 
correct in his judgment that the hospital at Spencer should not 
be enlarged. It is very difficult of access, its water supply is de- 
ficient, and the available building space is inadequate. His propo- 
sition for a new hospital in the southern part of the state which 
shall provide accommodations for insane soldiers after they have 
had active treatment at Huntington, and shall ultimately be used for 
the colored insane appears reasonable. 

The new hospital should be organized on the colony plan without 
expensive administration buildings, with inexpensive cottages and 
with abundant opportunity for congenial employment at farming and 
other industries. We are unable to suggest a plan for developing 
this institution without legislation and without a state appropriation; 
but it will be most unfortunate if provision can not be made in ad- 
vance for the care of the insane soldiers who are certain to come 
back from France, and we hope that a way can be found. 

The adoption of the general hospital plan at Huntington will 
minimize the number of men requiring permanent insane hospitftl 
care. Many of them will be cured in a few weeks and sent back to 
their homes. There is a growing recognition of the fact that the 
hope of cure for the insane is largely restricted to the early period 
of the disease. There is five times as much hope of recovery in 
the first three months as in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months. 
We owe it to our soldiers to see that they get an early chance. 



20 Suggested Program for the 

The institutional care of the feeble-minded — especially of the feeble- 
minded girls— is a matter of urgent importance. As Mr. Stonaker 
has well pointed out, the war will greatly increase the number of 
defectives in the state and unless immediate action is taken the 
tide will be overwhelming. The feeble-minded girl is a constant 
menace to the morals of the community because of her inability to 
protect herself. A study in Virginia of 300 prostitutes indicated 
that at least 65 percent of them were feeble-minded, and statistics 
completed in New Jersey show that feeble-minded women are twice 
as prolific as normal women and that the majority of their children 
are also defective. 

We recognize the difficulty of promoting a campaign for adequate 
institutional care for the feeble-minded at this time but it will at 
least be possible to take into account the future needs of the feeble- 
minded in planning for the temporary institutions which will be 
demanded by the war. 

The epileptics, though fewer in number than the feeble-minded, 
are almost equally in need of public care. We call attention only 
to the fact that epileptics should be cared for separately from de- 
linquents, the insane, and the feeble-minded, and that it is no more 
expensive to provide separate cottages and separate institutions for 
the epileptics than it is to provide for them by mingling them 
with the inmates of other institutions to the detriment of all con- 
cerned. 

IX. Tuberculosis. . 

On this subject we quote from Mr. Stonaker's report (page 23) : 
"The State has made a most commendable beginning in its establish- 
ment of the State Tuberculosis Sanitarium at Terra Alta. The site 
is good; the buildings are well planned and well located and the 
service is excellent. The fact that there is constantly a long waiting 
list of applicants in a state institution where the service is not free, 
as in most other states, is convincing evidence of the quality of 
its work. For emergency needs, the Terra Alta plant is prepared, 
so far as medical skill and nursing service goes; but it would need 
financial assistance from the council of Defense should the demand 
arise for more buildings and a larger service for the benefit of re- 
turned soldiers." ^ 

The dreadful revelations as to the prevalence of tuberculosis among 
the soldiers in the trenches of France and the lack of provision either 
for the care of the tuberculous soldiers or the protection of the 



Executive State Council of Defense 21 

community from infection is a warning which must not be neglected. 
On this point we quote again from the report of Mr. Stonaker (page 
24) "The present stage of knowledge of this disease indicated that 
it is fundamentally a disease of childhood which demonstrates itself 
in adult life through stress and strain. Infection comes in early life 
and is resisted if the physical condition of the youth is maintained 
on a high standard. This is the reason for safeguarding the sanitary 
conditions of family life in camp and town living." 

With reference to provision for tubercular patients the same prin- 
ciple applies as in other cases, namely that the future needs of the 
State should be carefully borne in mind. 

X. Public Health Service. 

Mr. Stonaker, in his report, has indicated the imperative necessity 
for increasing the powers and the resources of the State Board of 
Health as a war measure. He calls attention to the lack of birth 
registration in the past to supply facts with reference to the age of 
candidates for enlistment and men subject to conscription, and also to 
the lack of adequate registration of contagious and infectious dis- 
eases. 

Dr. H. M. Biggs, of the New York State Department of Public 
Health, has recently visited France and he testifies to the great dam- 
age which that nation is suffering in the prosecution of the war for 
lack of an efficient public health organization, especially with refer- 
ence to the dissemination of tuberculosis and venereal diseases. 

It will probably be necessary for the Executive Council of De- 
fense to make some appropriation from its funds to promote the work 
of the State Board of Health until more adequate state appropria- 
tions can be secured from the Legislature. 

XI. Co-operation of Woman. 

The co-operation of the women of the State is of the utmost im- 
portance. Their aid should be invoked, not only in the feminine 
offices of nursing, knitting, and packing boxes with "comforts" for 
the soldier, but in the larger matters of organization and adminis- 
tration and especially in those matters which have to do with the 
families and the children of soldiers. Women may well be given 
the chief responsibility for the administration of the mothers' pen- 
sion law, as in New York, New Jersey, and Penns3dvania. 

The Bureau of Woman's Defense should have assigned to it dis- 



22 Suggested Program for the 

tinct responsibilities and its representatives should (sit with the 
Executive Council of Defense in their business sessions. Through 
the Bureau of Woman's Defense close co-operation should be estab- 
lished with the sixty woman's clubs of West Virginia through the 
State Federation of Woman's Clubs, with the Young Women's 
Christian Associations, and other efficient organizations of women. 

XII. The State Board of Control. 

The Executive Council of Defense should work in close consulta- 
tion and in complete harmony with the State Board of Control. 
That Board has extraordinary powers. Probably no State Board of 
Control in the United States has as large authority. It is in touch 
with the most of the social work of the State and is in a position to 
accomplish much of what needs to be done through its own resources 
and where its own resources fail it can assist the Council of Defense 
in the use of the means which have been given it by the Legisla- 
ture. 

XIII. Other Social Agencies. 

The Council of Defense should use every effort to enlist the active 
co-operation of all of the social agencies of the State; The churches, 
the Young Men's Christian Assoication, the Boy Scouts, the Asso- 
ciated Charities, the Eelief Societies^ the Fraternal Orders, the So- 
cial Welfare Workers employed by Corporations, the Red Cross Chap- 
ters and other social and philanthropic organizations. 

Correspondence should be established with the National Red Cross, 
the National Security League, and other national organizations whose 
advice and co-operation may be helpful. 

XIV. Certification of Organizations. 

A multitude of organizations for war relief, and for the pur- 
poses connected with the war, foreign, national and local, have sprung 
up and are appealing for contributions from all parts of the country. 
A list of 84 different organizations for war purposes was reported 
recently in New York City. The generous people throughout the 
country who desire to contribute have no means of determining the 
reliability or the relative merits of this multitude of agencies. Many 
of them are important; many of them are of minor importance, and 
some of them are fakes. 



Executive State Council of Defense 23 

In many cities chambers of commerce or other civic organizations 
have established "charities endorsement committees" which undertake 
to prepare a list of agencies which they are willing to recommend 
to the public as worthy of confidence and support. Some such civic 
bodies have been too clearly the financial side and not clearly enough 
the social side of such organizations ; but on the whole this plan, where 
it is carefully organized and administered in a broad spirit of charity, 
has been found very useful. 

It is reported that, in the first two years of the war a vast number 
of organizations for war purposes sprang up in the European coun- 
tries, many of which proved to be superfluous and after absorbing- 
large amounts of public contributions finally went out of existence. 

We would suggest that the Council of Defense can render a public 
service of great value by undertaking to furnish to the people of West 
Virginia a list of those organizations for war relief and other pur- 
poses connected with the war which it can recommend for public 
support. It is not necessary that the Council should undertake to 
make an adverse recommendation, except in cases where it is mani- 
fest that the public should be warned. Neither is it necessary to fur-^ 
nish a final list at the outset. The list could be increased and revised 
from time to time. 

Confidential information with reference to such organizations can 
be obtained from the National Eed Cross, the New York Charity 
Organization Society, the Chicago Bureau of Charities, and other 
similar organizations. The Council will be taking safe ground in re- 
fusing its endorsement to all organizations which are not directed 
by a competent and responsible committee or which do not publish 
a periodical financial statement covered by a responsible audit. 

XV. An Advisory Board. 

Our study of the social institutions of the State brought out the 
fact that there is a general demand for an Advisory State Board of 
Charities. Such a board is favored by the Board of Control, which 
is the executive board of charities. It is favored by the representa- 
tives of the university whose study of social questions has convinced 
them of its utility. It is favored by many intelligent citizens. 

Some have supposed that all of the functions of such a board could 
be discharged by the State Board of Control but that Board is fully 
employed with its executive work, and the experience of Ohio, Illinois, 
and Minnesota has shown that there is abundant feeling for an 



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Suggested Program for the 



advisory board to work in co-operation with the State Board of Con- 
trol. The expense of such a board is comparatively small because 
the members serve without pay, and the secretary is the executive 
officer. 

If our recommendations are adopted, the Council of Defense will 
discharge many of the functions of such a board for the time be- 
ing, but we believe that you will be led by your practical experience 
in this field to move for the creation of a permanent State Board 
of Charities. 

On page 42 of his report, Mr. Stonaker has suggested several 
different forms of organizations for such a board, but the exact 
form which it shall assume must be determined by consultation and 
study. 

XVI. The Executive Secretary. 

We would advise that the Council of Defense magnify the office 
of its Executive Secretary. Its success and standing will depend 
largely upon the wisdom, tact, energy and efficiency of its secretary. 
He ought to be the busiest man in West Virginia for the next year. 

It will be good economy to furnish your secretary with such clerical 
and stenographic assistance and such office facilities and printing 
as he may need. Your administration should, be strictly economical 
and should involve no superfluous expense; but efficient administra- 
tion is economical and it would be bad economy to load down your 
Executive Officer with so many petty details that he would be com- 
pelled to neglect the larger duties for which he is employed. 

Eespectfully submitted, 

Hastings H. Hart. 



TRIBUNE PRINTING CO., CHARLESTON, W. VA. 



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